Welcome to the Action For Justice (AFJ) Network!

Welcome to the Action For Justice (AFJ) Network!

Cuba's Castro Calls Spanish Prime Minister `Cowardly' (Update4)
By Matthew Walter

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Cuba's President Fidel Castro described as ``cowardly'' remarks that Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero directed at Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during last week's Ibero-American summit in Chile.

Castro, 81, issued a statement today to side with Chavez, his closest ally, who was told to ``shut up'' at the summit by Spanish King Juan Carlos I after the Venezuelan leader called Spain's former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar Lopez a fascist. Zapatero also defended Aznar from Chavez's attack, telling him that his predecessor was elected democratically.
The exchange was ``an unambiguous display of the genocidal ways and methods of the empire, its accomplices and the anesthetized victims of the Third World,'' Castro wrote in an e- mailed ``reflection,'' entitled ``The Ideological Waterloo.''

By taking up the spat, Castro underscored the tensions ignited this week between Zapatero and Latin American leaders allied with Chavez. The Venezuelan president, who says he views Castro as a father, said this week that his country doesn't need Spanish investment, and announced plans to ``deeply review'' economic, political and diplomatic relations with Spain.
A spokesperson for Zapatero declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.

`Scene'

The row is a diplomatic setback for the Spanish prime minister, a member of Spain's socialist party, who has said he wants strong relations with Cuba and Venezuela, said Daniel Erikson, a senior associate at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington D.C.

``It's a pretty embarrassing scene when the king of Spain has to intervene to tell a president to shut up,'' Erikson said. ``It's a breakdown in diplomatic protocol.''

Chavez said today that the Spanish King owes him an apology, and questioned why Zapatero would side with Aznar, who Chavez says supported a coup aimed at unseating him in 2002.
``I didn't understand Zapatero's argument,'' Chavez said in an interview on Venezuelan state television. ``Aznar is a coup monger and a fascist, and I'll say it whenever I feel like it. Zapatero tried to defend privatizations and to defend neo- liberalism.''

While the Spanish government has downplayed the incident over the past week, it has been a top story in Latin American media, making its way into political debates and popular culture across the region.

`Shut Up'

YouTube.com has been flooded with rap and reggaeton versions of the exchange, showing King Juan Carlos pointing the finger at Chavez, and the king's words, ``Why don't you shut up,'' have become a popular ring-tone in Spain.

Colombian television channel Caracol broadcast the confrontation, set to music, on its morning show today, and the Buenos Aires daily Bae ran ``Latin America Won't Shut Up,'' as a headline in their international news section.

Castro, who hasn't been seen in public since undergoing gastrointestinal surgery in July 2006, communicates with the public now only through written essays and television broadcasts that are usually pre-taped.

On Oct. 14 he spoke live by phone for more than an hour with Chavez on the Venezuelan president's weekly television program.

Castro, who's ruled Cuba since 1959, handed temporary governing authority over to his brother last year because of his failing health.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Walter in Caracas at mwalter4@bloomberg.net Last Updated: November 16, 2007 18:03 EST